Trees

On Tuesday night last week, we had a pretty strong storm go through. It didn't last long, but it sure did some damage. Nothing on the house was damaged, but it took out about 10 trees. All the trees were on our south pine tree line. One of our large maple trees up by the house lost a good sized branch (last picture). We'll have to figure a way to get that off. Actually, we'll be working on cleaning this up all year I think. We have 3 or 4 trees that didn't break, just fell over with the roots sticking up in the air. So here's a few pictures. Most of these pictures I walked behind the tree line and took from the south side.

April pictures

So April has flown by but I dont have too many pictures to show for it. I took the boys up north for a few days since Andy had to work for 2 or 3 days straight it seemed. We stayed with Mom and Dad but did visit Andy's parents briefly for dinner one night. We kept busy with coloring eggs, hunting them, and building a fort (as you can see below). Alex carried every one of those pieces of wood from the pine trees in the background. Alex still talks about his fort and the flag Papa gave him. :)

Our other adventure was taking the boys rollerskating for the first time. It's been a long time for me too! Andy's cousin rented out a rink in Logansport for their daughter's birthday and family and friends were invited. It took some doing to get Alex out there, but Adam was more than willing to shuffle along with the crowd! Afterward though, Alex talked alot about how fun it was to skate. :)

Construction!

A month ago (has it been that long? whew!) Pete helped us install a new water softener. Alex did a good job of staying out of the way, but asked repeatedly, "Daddy, my turn to help?" Adam was just happy to be able to play in the basement. :)

The other construction that has been going on since we got back from Florida is behind our house. It's warmed up a bit and they sure have been busy. The new SR 25 has to go over a low spot and they were installing the draining system that runs under the new road. In the spring we can get some pretty serious flooding by our house, so they put in a good sized drain (I dont know what the word really is for this thing, so "drain" will have to do!). Semi after semi came by our house and took it back for a crane to lower it into place. Only one of those concrete pieces per semi. Yeah, they're pretty big.

After they finished the concrete, they spent a few days dumping gravel around the "drain". Dump truck after dump truck... A few dump trucks brought some large rocks/boulders to place on either end of the "drain". Probably so the dirt wont wash out? But an excavator scooped up the big rocks and placed them where they needed to go. And occationally, a train would go by. Adam loooves trains. He will stop crying, eating, drinking, playing, etc just to watch them or let you know he hears one. Needless to say when he's having a bad day/moment, I'm praying for a train. :)

So Florida was just what we needed. The boys were driving me crazy at home being cooped up in the house. They needed to just get out and run! And thankfully, we had perfect weather and went to the beach twice a day most days. So they got lots of sun and sand-playing. We even made a trip to Sanibel Island one day. The beach is totally shells and little sand. So Alex had a great time looking for shells (he's not picky). :) Adam still played in the sand, which is what he liked to do best.

We found these on the beach...

looks like an aligator skull and a crab arm.

Ft. Myers Beach

Alex decided he needed a break.

Alex thought it was his job to keep the birds away.

They didn't bother us at all, but it was fun to watch him chase them!

Yea! Mimi's here!

Andy's mom got to come for part of the week we were there.

So nice to have an extra pair of hands around.

Ok so Alex is afraid of pools, and Adam is not.

So while Adam played in the pool Alex was reading up on the instructions to Adam's pool toy.

Alex is going to be a runner. He loved to just run on the beach.

Boat ride!

This time the boat was not scary to the boys; they loved it!

Dolphins!

Wait. Is this Alex in the pool? It is!!

After see how much fun Adam was having, we eventually got Alex in the pool!

And more than one day too. :)

So these last few are just of the boys all wet from the hose.

Eddie was watering the plants at the house and they thought it was great fun to run under (and through) the water.